lost citation library

fishloomis
I just re-opened my desktop zotero application on my mac after it had been closed for a couple weeks and it is completely empty/blank. I think it went through an update cycle because it was prompting me to restart word. Where did all my citations go?
  • DWL-SDCA
    Were you still using Zotero 4 or had you updated to Zotero 5? Is there a folder on your desktop with the title Old Firefox?
  • dstillman
    @fishloomis: See https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/data_missing_after_zotero_5_upgrade
  • fishloomis
    I'm using chrome and I don't see any folders on my desktop
  • dstillman
    See the page I linked to.
  • fishloomis
    I read through the document several times, however I'm not able to solve my problem. I'm not seeing anything in my online zotero library, so I think there must have been some errors in the automatic syncing from when I first started using Zotero this last fall. So, the link's solution to connect the new version of Zotero to the firefox (or presumably Chrome, in my case) directory doesn't seem to be an option. When I look for the directory in preferences>advanced>files and folders>show directory I only see a zotero.sqlite file with today's time stamp. Is there somewhere else I should be looking to find my old directory on my laptop?
  • dstillman
    edited March 23, 2018
    the link's solution to connect the new version of Zotero to the firefox (or presumably Chrome, in my case) directory doesn't seem to be an option.
    That's not really what it says. It says to check the Firefox profile directory for a 'zotero' directory. I've updated it to clarify that you should should check the Zotero profile directory as well, which might be relevant in some situations.

    Assuming you had your data on this computer previously, the online library isn't relevant. The linked instructions are about finding your previous data on your computer.
  • fishloomis
    Ok, thanks for clarifying. I did find a "Zotero" file in my profile directory, however, there was no zotero.sqlite file there. Some of the other time stamps do date back to when I started using Zotero. I tried re-directing the new version of zotero to the file I found in the profile directory but it didn't work, nothing populated. I'm starting to wonder if I may have accidentally deleted the old zotero directory off my desktop, or relocated it somewhere. I cleared a bunch of files off my desktop a week or two back so thats a possibility. How would I find the old directory if its not deleted?
  • fishloomis
    I found the correct directory! I'm still not sure if was an update or if I moved it unknowingly but that doesn't matter. Thanks for the help and clarification, it was a bit of a treasure hunt but now I'm reunited with all my documents.
  • dstillman
    OK, great. Just to be sure, unless you're using another location on purpose, you don't want to point Zotero at another location — you want your data to be in the default "Zotero" data in your home directory.

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